Two of the league’s more entertaining teams (in the front office, anyway) pulled off a trade with some interesting ramifications today. Here’s the deal (as per TSN.ca):

Vancouver trades:

Lukas Krajicek
Juraj Simek

Tampa Bay trades:

Shane O’Brien
Michel Ouellet

The Canucks have already assigned Ouellet to the Manitoba Moose, and I’d imagine Simek will be joining Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate in Norfolk.

Shane O’Brien’s -5 rating last season was among the best on the Tampa Bay roster, but balanced against that was the relatively easy position he was placed in. He ranked fifth among Lightning defencemen in quality of competition, and was second only to Brad Lukowich in quality of teammates. He scored 0.81 PTS/60, recorded 154 PIM and landed 128 hits.

Michel Ouellet’s transformation into AHL-calibre forward is slightly baffling. He played the 7th-toughest competition among Lightning forwards last year, and scored 2.00 PTS/60, while posting 2.88 GFON/60 and 1.92 GAON/60. He should see time in Vancouver this season, if he clears recall waivers.

On the other side of the ledger, Lukas Krajicek (dead last among Vancouver defenseman in quality of competition) remains a mildly disappointing player (0.46 PTS/60, 2.52 GFON/60, 2.86 GAON/60) who has never lieved up to his draft day expectations. Krajicek was quoted on CKNW in Vancouver as saying that “(Management) told me that Tampa wanted me for quite some time.” Juraj Simek, a 6th round draft pick in 2006, was sent out along with Krajicek, but for a player with an offense-only reputation, seven goals as a rookie in the AHL is pretty close to being the kiss of death.

From a Lightning perspective, Krajicek is the key player in the deal, but I think the Canucks win this hands down.

—Jonathan Willis is the force behind Copper and Blue and a frequent OilersNation contributor.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

"He should see time in Vancouver this season, if he clears recall waivers."

Did this part mean to be about Ouellet, and not O'Brien? Because O'Brien is a clear-cut NHLer and by no reason should he find himself in Manitoba this year. Don't get me wrong, I'd be damn happy to have him here but he's just too good. Guess this makes Edler-O'Brien the 3rd pairing for the Nucks, and Davison as the 7th man.

That's a damn good defense corps Vancouver's built up there. Too bad there's no #4 anymore to make up for the loss of when Ohlund leaves this summer.

As an aside, Gillis made today a twofer in terms of great decisions. He sent Hodgson out to feats on AA pitching to steal an LT saying. He was good enough to make the team, but at this point he's better off being a leader than a 5-minute guy.

DG: Yeah, that's a formatting error of some kind. DJ, could we clear the "7th-toughest competition among Lightning forwards last year, and scored 2.00 PTS/60, while posting 2.88 GFON/60 and 1.92 GAON/60. He should see time in Vancouver this season, if he clears recall waivers."?

Although I bear full responsibility for Krajicek's failure to "liev" up to expectations.

Getting Ouellet should be quite a coup for Manitoba- have to think Vancouver tries to sneak him through re-entry waivers at some point.

I don't know, I think Krajicek will be a better player than O'brien even if he doesn't end up as good as predicted on draft day. Tampa really doesn't give up anything either way, and they have a possibility of getting something in return.

Bang on assessment, Jonathan. Vancouver won this one, as it needed some toughness, and got some. A younger, perhaps better version of the Strudwick-class defender for Vancouver, who already have some skill on "d."